"Now a tropical storm as it continues to inundate the Texas and Louisiana coasts, Harvey is foremost a human disaster, a stop-motion catastrophe that has already claimed at least 10 lives and destroyed thousands of structures," Thrush writes for the newspaper. "But hurricanes in the post-Katrina era are also political events, benchmarks by which a president's abilities are measured.

"Mr. Trump is behaving like a man whose future depends on getting this right."

The president visited Texas on Tuesday and plans to make another to the region as early as Saturday, Thrush notes. In announcing the trips, Trump used a decidedly different tone, he says.

"His rhetoric was strikingly different from his much-criticized pronouncements at a news conference this month when he equated the actions of leftist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the violent, torch-wielding alt-right activists who hurled anti-Semitic and racist epithets," says Thrush.

"A storm that is ravaging low-lying areas gives Mr. Trump a chance to reclaim the presidential high ground."

But he observed some of those close to Trump are concerned he will not exercise the proper self-control.

"Senior officials, led by John F. Kelly, the chief of staff, have gingerly urged the president to stick to a script vetted through official channels," says Thrush. "And Mr. Trump has toned down his presence on Twitter — mildly — relying more on the kind of official statements and news media availability used by his predecessors. But no one, including Mr. Kelly, expects him to remain silent or on message if he comes under criticism over his response to the storm."

However, Thrush notes Trump appeared genuinely moved by images of destruction in Texas. And many around the president, who has seldom "been more engaged in the details of any issue as he is with Harvey," insist this time to be different for Trump, he says.